'Get out!' people scream after plane crashes into DeLand Publix

DeLAND — Calls started pouring into the Volusia County dispatch center immediately after a small airplane crashed into the roof of a Publix on Monday, sending frightened shoppers running for the exit.

"The engine sounded like it was sputtering, and the next thing you know, it went down nose first," one caller told a dispatcher in 911 calls released Tuesday show.

"It's a huge black cloud. It just crashed. It took off from the DeLand airport and crashed," another caller said.

In one call, the line was left open to the sounds of voices yelling, "Get out!" and the beeping of a fire alarm.

Some of the two dozen or so callers sounded panicked as they described people running out of the store. Others sounded incredulous. Many were confused about what had happened, thinking the crash was at a nearby Lowe's home-improvement store.

Police said five people were hurt, although a spokeswoman for Florida HospitalDeLand said it treated a sixth patient. The pilot, a passenger in the single-engine experimental plane and one shopper remained at Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday as federal investigators examined the wreckage and city building officials inspected the store.

One of those treated and released at Florida Hospital, shopper April Morris, said she could not talk about the crash because it upset her too much to relive the experience.

"I'm an emotional wreck," said Morris, who was burned in the crash. "I'm alive, so I'm thankful that I walked out of there."

Another, 39-year-old Lisa Cordova of Glenwood, said she can't stop thinking about a man who was scratching at his leg, which was on fire right after the plane crashed into the meat department.

"Fire was coming from everywhere," said Cordova, who escaped through thick, black smoke. "It was just horrible."

That no one was killed is "nothing less than a miracle," DeLand police Lt. Jack Waples said.

Waples said the plane — which took off from DeLand Municipal Airport less than two miles away — left a "huge, gaping hole" in the roof of the Publix that can be seen on video shot from a Volusia County Sheriff's Office helicopter.

"The only thing I saw that resembled an aircraft was an engine," said Waples, who was inside the store on International Speedway Boulevard on Tuesday morning. "The rest was burned away."

Little left of Seawind 3000

Waples described the damage where the plane fell as "total devastation" but said the fire was contained to aisles two or three to six, where it burned through the merchandise and shelves.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Luke Schiada said the aircraft — a four-passenger Seawind 3000 amateur-built amphibious plane — melted. That will make it harder to investigate the cause of the fire, which severely burned the cockpit.

By late Tuesday, 80 percent of the wreckage had been loaded onto a flatbed. Smaller pieces were being gathered and taken to a salvage yard in Groveland to be examined.

There were no obvious signs of engine failure, Schiada said.

The plane, built in 2002, is registered to Kim Presbrey, managing partner at Presbrey & Associates law firm in Aurora, Ill., Federal Aviation Administration records show. Bill Weir, who works at the firm, said Presbrey, 60, suffered third-degree burns and is in the intensive-care unit at ORMC, where his wife and two sons were with him.

Presbrey left Aurora Municipal Airport for Florida during the weekend on a pleasure trip and has many years of experience as a pilot, including of multiengine airplanes, Weir said.

DeLand police identified the other person in the plane as Thomas Rhoades. It has not been determined who the pilot was.

Three shoppers were hurt: Cordova, Morris and Brendan Beitler, 20, a Stetson University student from Tampa. Beitler is being treated at ORMC for severe burns.

Closed indefinitely

The plane had just left the airport about 7:20 p.m. when it dropped out of the sky.

The supermarket will remain closed until Publix can assess the damage, company spokesman Dwaine Stevens said. All 175 employees will be transferred temporarily to other stores.

A preliminary report will be released in about a week, and a report with the cause of the crash is due in six to eight months, Schiada said.

Small planes such as the one that crashed typically do not have black boxes that record the speed or altitude of the plane — but it may have a GPS that could have been damaged by the fire.

Investigators plan to question other pilots that may have been flying in the area and check with the airport on service the plane received.